Scopus Credited as Tool to Boost Research Funding

Author search efficiency dramatically increased with powerful new algorithms  

Australia , July 5, 2006 – Scopus®, the world’s largest abstract and citation database of research information and quality Web sources, today announced that three universities – University of South Australia, University of Tasmania and University of Western Sydney – have chosen Scopus to support their literature research workflows.

Scopus will serve the needs of all at these sites enabling faculty to monitor the performance of their researchers, students to instantly identify the hottest topics and most cited papers and researchers to identify collaborators and keep up to date with the latest developments in their field.

Another factor driving the universities’ decision to adopt Scopus is its bearing on the Research Quality Framework; an initiative introduced by the Australian government in 2004 to assess the quality and impact of publicly funded research and its contribution to scientific innovations.

Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Dr Brendan Nelson MP stressed in his forward to a report commissioned by the commonwealth of Australia that Australia’s future depends on a collective effort by the Australian Government, industry and the community to identifying areas of international research excellence in Australia. Perhaps more importantly for Australia’s universities, the results of the RQF will inform the distribution of research funding in the future.

Stephen Parnell, Deputy Director of Library Services at the University of South Australia says: “the application of Scopus within our university has changed over time; growing from a useful research tool to an indispensable resource that plays an integral role in the assessment required for the Research Quality Framework.”

The Framework recommends the use of quantitative indicators such as bibliometrics to support the assessment of research quality.

Innovations such as the Scopus Author Identifier and Citation Tracker make it easy for universities to provide this data.

These progressive universities join many others in the region already capitalizing on their investment in Scopus, such as Swinburne University of Technology, University of Newcastle, University of Auckland, Central Queensland University, University of Otago and Auckland University of Technology.

Niels Weertman, Head of Scopus Product Development says: “It’s great to see that so many institutions believe in our commitment to supporting scientific advancement . It’s never been this easy to get comprehensive insights into research”.

About Research Quality Framework ( RQF)
The Australian Government is committed to ensuring that resources provided to carry out research are directed to areas of research excellence and public benefit. In May 2004, the Government appointed an Expert Advisory Group, chaired by Professor Sir Gareth Roberts, to develop a new Research Quality Framework that would be used to measure both the QUALITY and IMPACT of research undertaken by Australian Universities and Publicly Funded Research Agencies.

Details about how the RQF will be implemented in the higher education sector are still being developed. However, it is intended that the Framework will strongly influence the allocation of some major research-related block grant allocations to universities.

About Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF), the New Zealand equivalent to RQF

The primary goal of the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) is to ensure that excellent research in the tertiary education sector is encouraged and rewarded in New Zealand. This entails assessing the research performance of tertiary education organisations (TEOs) and then funding them on the basis of their performance.

About Scopus
Covering the world’s research literature, Scopus is the largest and easiest to use navigation tool ever built. Scopus is designed and developed with over 300 users and librarians internationally. Its unique database contains abstracts and references from over 15,000 titles from 4,000 different publishers, ensuring broad interdisciplinary coverage. In addition, Scopus not only offers users citation information about the articles covered, but also integrates web & patent searches directly from its clean and simple interface. Direct links to full-text articles, library resources and other applications like reference management software, make Scopus quicker, easier and more comprehensive to use than any other literature research tool.
For more information about Scopus please visit www.info.scopus.com.

About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier’s 7,000 employees in 77offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com/), Scopus (http://www.news.scopus.com/), bibliographic databases, and online reference works.

Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com/) is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), a world-leading publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier's ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).